HYMN OF THE DAY

My soul doth magnify the Lord;
And my spirit hath rejoiced
In the Lord, my Savior and God.
My estate He regarded.
He that's Mighty hath done to me
Great things. His name is Holy.
In Christ His great mercy is free.
Those who fear Him, to Him flee.

Strength with His arm our God hath showed:
The proud of heart He scattered;
He brought down the mighty's abode;
The humble are exalted.
He filled the hungry with good things;
The rich sent away empty.
Is-rael, His servant, He's holding;
And remembers His mercy.

Christ in me, the hope of glory,
O Lord, form your Son in me.
Till my spirit doth magnify
And rejoice, my Lord, in Thee.
Let my pride be brought down to dust;
Fill with good my hungry soul.
Then I will know my God is Just;
By His mercy doth make whole.

Tune: “Holy Manna”, Pg.#15

SUBPAR CHRISTIANS

In listening to a message, I heard a preacher say there are a lot of “subpar Christians”.

I do not believe that for a moment. God’s Holy Word says “we are complete in Him” (Col. 2:9-10). His word also says, “He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Heb 10:14).

Christ is “made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption”.

Where is anything subpar about that? All God’s people are ONE IN CHRIST, whether Jew, Gentile, bond or free; Christ is all in all!

I know there are “babes, young men, and fathers” but the babe in Christ is as complete in Christ as the father in the faith. There are no degrees in any believers standing before God; all are “made the righteousness of God in Christ”, all are “made new creatures in Christ”.

Men make statements and try to present degrees, or different levels of Christianity, and of course, they are at the highest level. This is blasphemous, it dishonors Christ and His work of redemption! It makes men look to doing something to attain a higher level of Christianity, and they do that because neither they, nor the preacher know Christ or His gospel. There is no higher ground, no higher level, or anything else, other than Christ.

“Subpar Christians” is the creation of a wicked and depraved mind. “Today thou shalt be with ME in paradise,” is what our Lord said to the thief beside him. This man had just become a believer, had just seen Christ for who he IS...who didn’t have time to “live right”, “to do a good work for Jesus”. But he went into glory with Christ his Savior. Why? Because Christ made him complete, and clothed him with His righteousness. - Pastor

WORTHLESS MORALITY PREACHING

The morality-preaching that passes for the gospel in our day is accepted partly because the world has become so immoral in our pursuit of happiness that parents think messages against sexual misconduct are better for their children than messages of how Christ has put away the sin of his people. Fact is the reason we are so immoral and in need of common morality is because we've been so long without the unapologetic preaching of Christ and him crucified. We can never expect morality in the pew if we immorally prostitute the gospel of God's free grace in Christ Jesus from the pulpit. - Clay Curtis